In a powerful and collective show of faith, more than 130 people from across The Diocese of Atlanta were confirmed, received, and reaffirmed on June 1 at the Cathedral of St. Philip.
The entire group represented 22 of the Diocese’s 120 worshipping communities across middle and north Georgia.
Addressing participants who had planned for this milestone, Bishop Rob Wright said their worship on this day “is to say yes to life with and for God and with one another.”
Four visitors accepted Wright’s invitation from the pulpit to rededicate themselves to God on the spot. “No obligation, no shame, no guilt, no arm twisting, but just know you can come,” he offered. “After all, what’s the good of all the beauty of the liturgy, etc., if it doesn’t create a moment where people feel like, ‘Yes again’?”
A Place of Belonging
Since December 2023, more than 740 people have been welcomed into The Diocese, received from other Christian traditions, or reaffirmed their ongoing walk with God as Episcopalians. They have said “yes” and “yes again.”
“We continue to have folks finding a place of belonging in The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Atlanta,” said Sally Ulrey, Canon for Congregational Vitality and Ministry Development. “In talking to several of those who were confirmed, received, or reaffirmed on Sunday, there are many who are finding refuge and a home. When we say that all are welcome and God loves all, they are finding that to be true to their personal experience in parishes all across the Diocese. I think our congregations’ witness to that Good News is bearing fruit.”
In his sermon, Wright emphasized the importance of freedom in faith, referencing the “delicious” drama of the “dynamic duo” of Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16, when they encountered a demon-possessed fortune telling girl, shackles in a cellblock, a timely earthquake and more. By refusing to settle for superficial gestures of piety, and praising God instead of panicking, Paul and Silas modeled authentic living and loving like Jesus.
“If we were to take a critical look at the present state of public education, health care and a minimum wage today in our state, you could say our pattern as a human family is to only want enough freedom to choose our various captivities and only enough religion to help us justify and maintain them,” Wright said to the audience of 541 people.
Wright encouraged the congregation to embrace freedom as a divine inheritance, to bless others, and to live out their faith through worship and thanksgiving.
“If we are made in the image of God, then freedom is part of our DNA,” he said. “We are free to be big and good and gracious and have a particular joy, just like God, a joy that the world can’t give, a joy that the world can’t take away, a song that the world can’t give, a song that the world can’t take away.”
Specific Messages to Those Confirming, Receiving, and Reaffirming
“You don’t walk this journey of faith alone, that there’s much to discover, and you have companions on the way, and you have the Holy Spirit as your strengthener,” Wright told the confirmands.
“It’s really a holy thing, though, to be welcomed home, and that’s what my privilege is today: to welcome you home to the Episcopal Church, and for you to know that you know that you know that you’re established in this family,” he told those being received from other Christian faiths.
“Something is happening in your lives; of course it is,” he said to the people reaffirming their faith. “Something is always happening, because the Holy Spirit is never static, never. So now they want to say, ‘yes again,’ in front of God and everybody. It’s a logical response to a deepening and unfolding sense of God’s goodness and mercy.”
The choir for the confirmation service was from St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, directed by Will Gotmer. The organist was Chase Loomer of the Cathedral of St. Philip, and the lector was Lauren Kent of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church.
Are you or your parish interested in confirmation, reception, and reaffirmation? Find out more here.